Marathon Pace Calculator
Planning your marathon strategy starts with knowing your required pace. Enter your target finish time to see exactly how fast you need to run each mile and kilometer, plus your even-split half marathon time.
A marathon is officially 26.2188 miles (42.195 km). The pace needed to finish varies dramatically across ability levels. Here are some common benchmarks:
- Sub-3:00 marathon: 6:52 /mi (4:16 /km)
- Sub-3:30 marathon: 8:01 /mi (4:59 /km)
- Sub-4:00 marathon: 9:09 /mi (5:41 /km)
- Sub-4:30 marathon: 10:18 /mi (6:24 /km)
- Sub-5:00 marathon: 11:27 /mi (7:07 /km)
Most experienced runners aim for an even split or slight negative split (running the second half slightly faster than the first). Going out too fast is the most common mistake in marathon racing. If your first 10K is more than 30 seconds per mile faster than your goal pace, you are likely setting up for a painful final 10K.
The half marathon split shown assumes perfectly even pacing. In practice, adding 1-2 minutes to your first half gives you a small cushion for the natural slowdown that occurs after mile 20 (the so-called "wall").
Training paces for marathon preparation typically include easy runs at 60-90 seconds slower than goal pace, marathon-pace long runs, and tempo work at 15-30 seconds faster than goal pace. A well-structured 16-20 week training plan builds gradually to peak mileage about 3 weeks before race day.